Yosui Inoue -- Yudachi （夕立）

When my friend and I were visiting Japan in October 2014, Tokyo was also visited by a couple of typhoons, both on Mondays and both lasting for just the better part of the morning. I thought we were quite lucky there since I remember my first full fall in 1995 when a huge storm came by and I saw nothing but literal sheets of rain whipping across a deserted Asakusa in the late morning.

Plus, when I was actually living there full-time, thunderstorms, I found, weren't nearly as noisy as they are in Toronto. But boy, could they put on a light show! One night, I even turned off everything in my Ichikawa apartment and opened the curtains and just marveled at the gigantic electrical arcs ripping across the night sky...while thanking the heavens that none of them were aimed for my pointed head.

All that prelude for a song that I had first introduced in another article for Yosui Inoue & Anzen Chitai's（井上陽水・安全地帯）joint collaboration album "Stardust Rendezvous" a couple of weeks ago. It was with "Yudachi" (Evening Squall) that I decided that I had to give some of those songs from that album their particular individual due. I've already done so with the ballad "Kaerenai Futari"（帰れない二人）last week, so I will do the same here.

"Yudachi" was Inoue's 6th single from September 1974, and unlike the tender folk song that was "Kaerenai Futari", this song was the singer-songwriter indulging some good old-fashioned rock on this guitar. I had thought that Inoue would be singing about something figuratively stormy like a relationship on the rocks or the downfall of society, but instead, the lyrics were describing the impact of an actual sudden squall on everyone as they reacted like ants to an antagonistic human hand coming down on them. And Inoue was giving some good grunts and whoops in his short-but-volatile bombast.

The single itself got as high as No. 15 on Oricon and it was also a track on his 4th album, "Nishoku no Koma"（二色の独楽...Two-Tone Top） from October 1974. Although it didn't exactly reach the legendary heights that its predecessor "Kōri no Sekai"（氷の世界...World of Ice） did, it did copy its record on the Oricon weeklies by hitting the top spot. A bit of an aside, but I noticed on the Wikipedia article on the album that one of the musicians working on the album was a guitarist by the name of Ray Parker Jr.! I knew he's had a long association with Japan but didn't quite realize that he worked that long ago. I'm not sure whether Mr. Who-Are-Ya-Gonna-Call? was working exactly on "Yudachi" but just knowing that he had something to do with a Japanese kayo album from the early 70s had me going "Hmmmm..." for a while.

Tatsuro Yamashita -- Sparkle

Another nice seasonable day out there so it's time to pull another one out of the Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎） discography and today it will be "Sparkle", an appropriately effervescent number from his 1982 album "For You".

Written by Minako Yoshida（吉田美奈子）and composed by Tats himself, if "Sparkle" were actually a soft drink, I reckon that it would be a homemade ginger ale...the type that has real ginger in it so that there is sometimes a heated sharpness hitting the tongue. The song has got that mellow City Pop vibe but those horns also add that nice little staccato punch to the proceedings. Ginger ale or song..."Sparkle" does wake you up.

(English version)

I was reading the J-Wiki article on "For You" when I saw the individual comments for the starting track of "Sparkle". Apparently, Yamashita had bought a Fender Telecaster guitar in 1980 for his concerts and then used it to fine effect on this album and especially for this particular song. Guess what? It has become a musical match in heaven and he's used the Fender Telecaster ever since in the recording studio and on stage. "Sparkle" has often been the opening number for his concerts to sock his audiences with his brand of orange juice and since then, Yamashita has wanted to create music that would bring the sound of his beloved guitar alive.

To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if some of those Future Funk/Vaporwave artists had already adapted the song for their musical collages.

Hey, it ain't ginger ale but it's
still tasty and it sparkles!

Aya Hirano -- Boken Desho Desho? （冒険でしょでしょ?）

Good gravy! Can hardly believe it's been over 10 years since "Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu"（涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱...The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya）, one of the jewels in Kyoto Animation's crown, was first broadcast...time for me to get my rocking chair.

And it's been around 18 months since I actually put up the article about that famous super-catchy and much talked about ending theme from the first season, "Hare Hare Yukai"（ハレ晴レユカイ）by the seiyuu from the show, Aya Hirano, Yuko Goto and Minori Chihara（平野綾・後藤邑子・茅原実里）. Yet, I had always thought of writing about the opening theme for that inaugural season as well but never got around to it until today.

Perhaps "Boken Desho Desho?" (It's an Adventure, Right? Right?) is not quite as earwormy as "Hare Hare Yukai" and there was no adorable choreography in the opening credits for "Haruhi", but I think as an anison, it still holds up quite nicely. Aya Hirano takes care of this one solo, and like "Hare Hare Yukai", the lyricist is Aki Hata（畑亜貴）with Akiko Tomita（冨田暁子）providing the music which seems to have a nice sprinkling of Shibuya-kei in there. Plus it flows smoothly with the fast-paced visuals of the opening credits and has the appropriate title which comes across as something that the often obnoxious Haruhi would say to the long-suffering Kyon.

I found that although "Boken Desho Desho?" didn't quite get the same amount of attention that the ending theme did, it also found a good measure of success on the charts as an anison. It even hit No. 10 on Oricon as Hirano's 2nd single when it was released in April 2006, and spent well over half a year swimming about on the charts. It ended up becoming the 141st-ranked single for the year.

Back last year in July, I wrote about the opening theme for the alt-universe sequel for "Haruhi", "Fure Fure Mirai"（フレ降レミライ）for "Nagato Yuki-chan no Shōshitsu"（長門有希ちゃんの消失...The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan）.

Marcos V.’s Special Selection Vol. I

Yeah, I know this montage was a cheap idea... but I did with love.

Out of nowhere, I decided to work on this Author’s Pick post. My intention was to select one song from each of my favorite Japanese artists, but without a proper theme guiding the list. In the end, I was able to select nine artists I’m more than sure that deserves a spot here... but I still needed one more to complete a top ten. My solution was to find a filler artist, so let’s start with it.

10) Chinatsu Miyoshi -- Anata no Shirts to Love Song (あなたのシャツと Love song)

Honestly, even though I love Hello! Project’s fallen aidoru Chinatsu Miyoshi (三佳千夏) and her few songs out there, I don’t think I could put her on this “favorites” type of list. However, I needed a filler in order to have ten songs – and didn’t want to feature songs by Miho Nakayama (中山美穂) or Shizuka Kudo (工藤静香) –, so her name started popping in my head.

“Anata no Shirts to Love Song” was Chinatsu’s third and last single, released in May 2000. Unike the beautiful, yet dated, “Unchain My Heart” and the not very interesting “Love, Yes I Do!”, this one ended up as a good ballad.

Even though I’m not the biggest ballad fan, I liked it thanks to Chinatu’s pretty vocals (she sounds like Miki Fujimoto [藤本美貴] to me) and the overall J-Drama feeling it evokes. I’d never expect something like that coming from Hello! Project today.

9) Wink -- Hiki Tomenaide (ひきとめないで)

When I started listening to Wink, the duo’s singles, such as “Ai ga Tomaranai ~Turn It Into Love~” (愛が止まらない) and “Samishii Nettaigyo” (淋しい熱帯魚), were my main focus. After a while, I decided to give their studio albums a try, and one of the first ones I listened to was “Especially For You ~Yasashisa ni Tsutsumarete~” (優しさにつつまれて), released in April 1989.

Comprised mostly of Euro-inspired covers of Western songs, I still liked the album very much. Coincidentally, my favorite songs from it were solos by Shoko Aida (相田翔子): “Baby Me”, a cover of Chaka Khan’s slow groove number; and “Hiki Tomenaide”, a cover of Debby Harry’s “You Got Me in Trouble”.

One of Wink’s many positive features was giving new life to Western songs. Usually, I just praise the Euro-inspired arrangements done by their producers, but I forget that without Shoko and Sachiko’s (鈴木早智子) gentle, cold, and – at times – even sexy vocals, the songs wouldn’t be the same. In “Hiki Tomenaide”, for example, Shoko gives a beautiful and restrained rendition that differs in a great way from Debbie Harry’s more punk-styled and tough vocals. Combined with the dancey, yet cold synth arrangement, this cover is a very special one in Wink’s discography.

8) Akina Nakamori -- Gekka (月華)

Akina Nakamori’s (中森明菜) 80s singles are timeless classics, but her 90s stuff – while hit or miss at some points – is also pretty interesting. Besides the Komuro-penned “Aibu” (愛撫), which is one of my favorites, a song I keep coming back to is “Gekka”.

Released in October 1994, “Gekka” showcases Akina in her more mature and dramatic persona, which is not a bad thing considering she was near thirty years old at the time. Coupled by an exotic arrangement, she sings in her beautiful low register while delivering well known vibratos in a powerful and notable chorus. In my opinion, even though the commercial success of past times wouldn’t knock her door again, Akina’s vocal technique was at its peak around “Gekka’s” release, something the song admirably reminds us.

7) Minako Tanaka -- Nemuranai Machi (眠らない街)

It’s no big surprise how much I like Minako Tanaka (田中美奈子), even though I agree her music career do not deserve so much praise. Anyway, I truly enjoy her efforts.

Far away from the Eurobeat songs she released in the beginning of her career, “Nemuranai Machi” is a highlight from a more mature artist seeking new paths. The song is from September 1993, but – thanks to its power-pop chorus and anthemic synths – it could have easily been from the late 80s if we wre talking about the Anglo-American music market.

In Japan, though, “Nemuranai Machi” wasn’t far away from successful songs released by acts such as DEEN and WANDS – to name a few. As we can see, the booming Being J-Pop sound even hit Minako Tanaka.

6) CoCo -- Natsuzora no Dreamer (夏空のDreamer)

Unlike the 80s, it wasn’t very easy to find successful aidoru stories during the early-to-mid-90s, but CoCo surely made its name in the industry with a plethora of cute cookie-cuttter songs. Amidst them, some were interesting enough, which was the case of “Natsuzora no Dreamer”.

Released in August 1992, the song starts right with some summery keyboards as the main instrumental hook. Not only that, it relies on a cheerful chorus that keeps things going in an exciting manner (I remember how fans got pumped when the girls sang this tune in concerts). Also, while not very innovative by any means, "Natsuzora no Dreamer" evokes a nostalgic feeling... probably of a past ideal summer that I didn’t live.

5) access -- SENSUAL GLIDE

As was the case with Minako Tanaka’s “Nemuranai Machi”, access’ “SENSUAL GLIDE” would not be considered a 90s song in the Anglo-American music market. It just screams 80s, and its even understandable since Daisuke Asakura (浅倉大介) and Hiroyuki Takami (貴水博之) were fans of bands such as Duran Duran and TM NETWORK (Dai-chan even played keyboards for TM NETWORK years before access’ formation).

The dizzy-like synths that permeates the song are a great touch, and I also like how the frantic guitar gives more depht to the arrangement – especially when Daisuke plays a keytar solo alongside the guitar during the bridge. Hiro’s vocals, on the other side, may not be among the best in the world, but I’m a fan of his rather screechy voice.

Even though “SENSUAL GLIDE” wasn’t released as a single, it was chosen to be the first song on access’ debut album “FAST ACCESS”, from February 1993. It was a great opener that set the tone to what we could expect from the band’s first full lenght work (previous singles “VIRGIN EMOTION” and “JEWELRY ANGEL” were nice showcases as well) – a wild combination of synths and guitars that would scare any serious rocker out there. Let’s just say that, in some way, access’ sound was trapped in a strange fusion of glam rock with synthpop.

4) Perfume -- Hurly Burly

Right now, “Hurly Burly” is kind of a lost song in Perfume’s discography, only appearing as a coupling song in 2012’s single “Spending all my time”. The strange marketing scheme was that, instead of the single’s title song, “Hurly Burly” was promoted in music shows like “Music Station” (ミュージックステーション) and “Music Japan”. Apparently, the girls were not very confident about performing “Spending all my time” on television because of the amount of English lines and lack of Japanese ones (it was told in an interview that the original version didn’t include any Japanese words, but the girls asked Yasutaka Nakata [中田ヤスタカ] to include at least some, which he did).

As for “Hurly Burly”, it could have served as a single on its own. The song is surprisingly joyful and solid given its odd title and some commercial lines – “what’s your favorite flavour?” and “juicy juicy sweet”, for example – Nakata insisted to include in the lyrics (it was a CM song for a Kirin drink). Just like “Spending all my time”, it can get a little bit repetitive, but the club-ready bass line and the late 90s Eurodance synths were great ideas from Nakata. Unfortunately, instead of this fun song, he decided to include the childish “Mirai no Musem” (未来のミュージアム) in Perfume’s electronic-heavy album “LEVEL 3” (probably due to contractual oligations, since “Mirai no Musem” – a Doraemon [ドラえもん] tie-in – was released as a single, while “Hurly Burly” was just a coupling song to the Eurohouse banger “Spending all my time”).

3) Minami Kuribayashi -- Kaze no Yukue (風のゆくえ)

I’m forever in love with Minami Kuribayashi (栗林みな実). Like I said in other posts, I don’t like her entire discography, but I admit feeling close to her in a strange way. Other than her beauty (she was marketed – and still is to some point – as a sexy seiyuu in her first years), I respect her vocal technique a lot, even if her overly cute voice sounds annoying at times.

One of my favorites from her is second single “Kaze no Yukue”, which was released back in February 2003. A little bit different from her more recent works, which relies heavily in aggressive synths and noisy guitar solos, “Kaze no Yukue” showcases Kuribayashi in a gentler way. The beautiful arrangement with keyboards and strings, coupled with the emotive chorus, is what makes me come back to this song all the time. I’d love if she started recording songs like this once again.

2) Chisato Moritaka -- Kusaimono ni wa Futa wo Shiro!! (臭いものにはフタをしろ！！)

For me, Chisato Moritaka (森高千里) had two main artistic inspirations during her career: one, 70s aidoru duo Pink Lady (ピンク・レディー) and their flamboyant style, both in music and fashion; second, The Beatles and their string of pop-rock classics.

Even though the flamboyant Moritaka overpowered the guitar-centric one during her early days, she was able to introduce, little by little, a bit of old school rock and roll in her discography (her album “Hijitsuryokuha Sengen” [非実力派宣言], for example, is half Eurobeat, half old school rock and roll).

One of the first times she opted for releasing a rock tune as a single was in May 1990, with “Kusaimono ni wa Futa wo Shiro!!”, a close-to-three minutes rockabilly song.

“Kusaimono ni wa Futa wo Shiro!!” soon became a highlight in Moritaka’s career, and it’s a song she enjoys performing in her live concerts a lot, even today. Personally, I had a hard time swallowing it, but right now I like how catchy and straightforward it is. Also, the video is pure fun with Chisato performing the song while dressed in her garish costume (she was even wearing a cape). In the end, the song just don’t match the outfit, but that’s what lovely about it: in a way, Moritaka is as close as a pin-up singing rock and roll we can get (the iconic leg dance during the guitar solo is just too much for me to handle).

Other than that, it’s funny how she wasn’t really caring for her aidoru image, since she appears holding a cigarette and drinking in the video. I remember reading somewhere how Shizuka Kudo, for example, had to hide her smoking habit from the public around the same time. Moritaka, on the other hand, surely had guts – or her management wasn’t very worried about it!

1) Megumi Hayashibara -- Lively Motion

NOTE: The audio quality of this video is horrible, but it was the only one with the full song I was able to find.

What’s my favorite song ever? That’s a tough question, but, if I had to think about it, Megumi Hayashibara’s (林原めぐみ) “Lively Motion” would be my answer. However, at the same time I know it’s a lie... I can’t select only one song from my favorite singer, because that’s plain absurd! Even knowing that, “Lively Motion” would still be my answer.

“Lively Motion” wasn’t the first Megumi song I heard, or even liked, but it was the one which made me decide she was going to be my musical companion for life. And that’s probably why I think about it as my favorite song ever.

Released in October 1998, it served as the ending theme to Saber Marionette J to X (セイバーマリオネット J to X), an anime I watched on TV everyday, and even woke up six in the morning during weekends to watch. While I loved the anime itself, its opening and ending songs – “Proof of Myself” and “Lively Motion”, respectively –, both sung by Hayashibara, were what kept me waiting. It’s just strange to watch an anime focused mainly in the songs, but that’s what I did back in the days.

I wasn’t familiarised with Japanese music at the time, and neither had a well-rounded musical taste, so this awkward combination of melodic and sentimental melodies coupled with a storm of synthesizers really hit me hard at the time. “Lively Motion” and all the urgency in its chorus was the epythome of what I wanted to hear in music, but, unfortunately, it didn’t click with anything from the Anglo-American market – which, by the way, was saturated with Hip-Hop/contemporary R&B and indie rock bands at the time. The good thing is Japan was always there to help me with the ride.

That's it for today. Thanks for the reading!

Hedva & David -- Naomi no Yume (ナオミの夢)

Yes, folks, welcome to June! I hope wherever you are, you are getting some of that fine summery weather. No, not the torrid stuff that melts tires, ice cream...and you...into sludge but the sunny warm and dry days that keep folks like me quite happy. As it was today in Toronto.

For my first entry of June 2016 in "Kayo Kyoku Plus", I'm going with an interesting entry that I had been wanting to write for some weeks but never got around to until now. I saw the performance on NHK's old "Kayo Concert"（歌謡コンサート）earlier this year and was quite charmed with the dynamic 60s/70s-ness of it.

This would be "Naomi no Yume" (I Dream of Naomi) by the duo of Hedva & David（ヘドバとダビデ）. Recently, there have been a number of singers originally from other countries who have been making inroads into J-Pop, but there was also a similar phenomenon in the late 60s and early 70s...one example of which was Hide & Rosanna（ヒデとロザンナ）with their "Ai no Kiseki"（愛の奇跡）in 1968.

Hedva Amrani and David Rosenthal, according to their bio in Wikipedia and J-Wiki, were a singing duo from Israel who made their debut in 1965 but it was closer to the end of the decade when they hit it big with a song that was supposedly produced for a coffee commercial in their native land. As it was known there, "Ani Holem Al Naomi" by Tirzah Atar and David Krivoshai had this certain punch like a good cup of coffee. And apparently, Hedva & David thought it good enough to enter it in the 1st Yamaha Song Festival in 1970. I'm not sure whether Kazuko Katagiri's（片桐和子）Japanese lyrics had already been placed into the song which would become known in Japan as "Naomi no Yume" when the two performed it at the festival but it won them the Grand Prize.

By January 1971, it was released as their first official single (actually, Hedva & David had become known as early as 1967 when their song "Aishuu no Jerusalem"「哀愁のイエルサレム」 was released as a B-side to an A-side by a completely different singer). I don't know how well it did on the Oricon weeklies but it actually finished the year as the 5th-ranked single! And yet, it didn't make it on the Kohaku Utagassen for some reason. I couldn't see why not. It sounded like this go-go boot-friendly number that could have made for a fine theme song for not just a Japanese coffee ad but also for any tongue-in-cheek spy show featuring a girl named Naomi. Still, getting that ranking of No. 5 is nothing to cry about either. According to Hedva's own website, the single sold over a million copies. Hedva & David probably did become household words in Japan for most of that year at least. The single, by the way, had the Japanese version as the A-side while the B-side contained the original song.

In the summer of 2015, Hedva returned to Japan to perform "Naomi no Yume" on the annual "Omoide no Melody"（思い出のメロディー）special on NHK. Her partner that time was enka singer Keisuke Yamauchi (sadly, David had already passed away from a drug overdose).

Kiyoshi Hikawa -- Oi Okkake Otojiro (大井追っかけ音次郎)

Yappari ne! Soudaro ne!
Shindoi ne... Miren da ne...

Aw geez, just these lines alone got me hooked on to Kiyoshi Hikawa's (氷川きよし)"Oi Okkake Otojiro".

I managed to find the popular enka singer's 2nd single when listening to "Hakone Hachiri no Hanjiro" (箱根八里の半次郎). Despite looking a little awkward back in 2001 and that horrendous coconut hair not doing him any favours (it's like a redux of Mae-Kiyo's glaring 80's perm), I must say that "Oi Okkake Otojiro" caught my attention through Hideo Mizumori's (水森英夫) score. As Mom had said when I played this song, it is loud. Besides the rousing strings, shamisen and blaring shakuhachi that his debut had, now there's even the taiko to spice things up. And not to forget Hikawa's bullhorn-like delivery that makes this tune more boisterous than it already is. Providing the lyrics for "Oi Okkake Otojiro" was Yurio Matsui (松井由利夫), and like its predecessor it seems to be about another ronin getting tired of his nomadic lifestyle.

Released on 21st February 2001, "Oi Okkake Otojiro" was very well-received, managing to get as high as 8th on the Oricon weeklies before settling at 50th by the end of the year. It became a certified Platinum record too, and allowed Hikawa to bag the "Gold Award" at the 43rd Japan Record Awards, as well as the "Cable Music Excellence Award" (I think that's how it's translated) at the 34th Japan Cable Awards. And finally, he sung it once during the 52nd Kohaku. Y'know, with it being that popular, I'm surprised that it's not sung often on TV nowadays. Too bad, I actually like it more than "Hakone Hachiro no Hanjiro".

Anyway, to round things up here's Fuyumi Sakamoto (坂本冬美), Junko Ishihara (石原詢子) and Yuri Harada (原田悠里) giving their rendition of "Oi Okkake Otojiro" on an old episode of "Nippon no Uta".

G.RINA feat. tofubeats -- Ai no Maboroshi (愛のまぼろし)

Some days ago, while I looked after some vaporwave songs, I came across an album released by singer G.RINA in October 2015 called “Lotta Love”. The promotional song, “Ai no Maboroshi”, was far from a vaporwave song, but its slow and melancholic sound did more to me than any of the vaporwave songs I was listening to at the time.

If there’s some type of logical narrative in the video, I’m not smart enough to catch it. At the beginning, it feels like the girl – portrayed by Ayako Sasaki, by the way – is a little bit lonely, as she’s doing very daily things and constantly smoking (it seems like her only true hobby). After a while, she gets together with another girl, who I don’t know if it’s a friend, a sister or a lover. What I do know, however, is that our main girl feels comfortable and happy around her. During the final sequence, for example, when she’s smoking while the other girl is sleeping next to her, it’s visible how warm their relationship is... and I can’t help but feel warm inside as well.

About the song, I may not like tofubeats’ mechanical singing vocals very much, but his production (I just love the dreamy keyboards), alongside G.RINA’s fitting vocals and the whole instrospective feeling, are what this song is all about. It’s the type of song that evokes a certain feeling, and I think Ms. Ayako Sasaki’s performance in the video is essential in order to the listener/viewer reach its climax.

In the end, song and video are so complementary (at least to me) that I was afraid of not liking the song very much without its accompanying video. However, it seems I’ll be able to listen to it during my constant travels. Like I said, it makes me feel warm inside.